OMG, someone alert the authorities. Dr. Erik Loomis of the University of Rhode Island has Buster Keaton’s head on a stick. He is responsible for the murder of said actor. Nevermind the fact that Keaton died in 1966, nearly a decade before Loomis was born. His heads on sticks metaphor has gone too far. Not only has he killed some of Hollywood’s leading actors, but he has literally put their heads on sticks and flashed them before cameras. Has he no shame? How can taxpayer dollars support the employment of such a scoundrel. Even worse, he makes his students watch silent films, an outrage which knows no boundaries.

I call for a witch hunt against Loomis. Since in this case there is no metaphor, I won’t be accused of being an disingenuous lying moron by pretending like I take this threat seriously. See–it’s right there in front of you!!

I’ll heat up the tar if you provide the feathers!!!

In all seriousness, I can’t believe I forgot about this picture until now. I took it at a showing of Steamboat Bill Jr. in Seattle last summer. They provided audience members with pictures of Buster Keaton on sticks. Clearly my life has led to this moment.

Comments (44)

I was just about to post this to the CT thread (the meta thread on academic and workplace freedom one): The CT solidarity statement post has over a thousand signatories (and I’m proud to count myself among them) so has there been any follow-up statement from URI and its administration? Any acknowledgement from them that they dropped the ball on this one and got it all wrong?

I was watching Pardon the Interruption on ESPN the other day and they had a whole segment they called “Heads on Sticks.” Surely everyone was incensed at the idea that you wanted Tony Kornheiser to hold a picture of Wayne LaPierre in front of his face while Mike Wilbon asked him questions. Very cruel!

And like I said elsewheres, the “pike” photoshops are far better, too… (…though since reading Wengler’s state fair rules comment, I am diggin’ the “…on a stick” version that you went with a bit more than I was initially.)

Reagan has become a conservative icon. His defenders have lobbied to add his face to Mt. Rushmore and to put it on the front of the dime, replacing Franklin Roosevelt.

That’s some serious Silence of the Lambs shit, right there. From an aesthetic standpoint I think Ronnie’s severed face would look strange stapled to Mt. Rushmore. You would hardly see it from a distance. And a dime would be far too small. Besides aren’t there laws against corpse mutilation? Oh well, we can’t be too safe…calling FBI